ADA — As an advocate for human rights, Juan Mendez has been tortured, a gun put in his mouth with the trigger pulled and had his freedom taken away for 18 months.
Still, he remains as passionate as ever about speaking out against torture, and cruel and unusual punishment.
Mendez, who is not only an international advocate and attorney but a professor at American University, told students at Ohio Northern University on Friday the world still has a lot of work to do to end torture.
When Mendez was tortured for two days it was in Argentina, his home country, as he tried to help others in custody. His captors were seeking information on how he was contacted and the names of other lawyers working with him.
“They put a barrel of a gun in my mouth and clicked it,” he said, explaining it was unloaded but he didn’t know that at the time.
Mendez spoke out against placing inmates in prisons in solitary confinement for long periods of time — such as greater than 15 days — and defined it as more than 22 hours a day isolated in a cell. He said it’s a form of torture some people may not consider.
He also said the United States needs to abolish the death penalty.
Mendez traveled the world as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture reporting to the U.N. General Assembly on torture, and cruel and unusual punishment. He served in that position from 2010 to 2016.
Mendez told students the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, changed the way people look at torture. It was frowned upon across the world prior to the attacks but afterward some started looking at it as “a necessary evil,” he said.
“Under torture, people say whatever they think the torturer wants to hear and that results in convictions of innocent people,” Mendez said.
Some people also may not consider sleep or food deprivation as torture, or even unsanitary detainment conditions, he said.
Most, however, do recognize physical beatings, electronic shock or water boarding as torture, he said.
“Those are very extreme forms of torture,” he said. “Unfortunately, torture continues to be inflicted around the world in alarming rates.”
He also spoke of mental torture by making threats against a person’s family, sexual assault and death threats.
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